Weekly initial jobless claims totaled 192,000 (consensus 215,000) following a prior revised count of 212,000 (from 211,000). Continuing claims came in at 1.684 million after a prior revised total of 1.713 million (from 1.718 million).
Housing starts totaled 1.45 million in February (consensus 1.313 million) following a revised total of 1.321 million in January (from 1.309 million).
Building permits totaled 1.542 million in February (consensus 1.345 million) after a total of 1.339 million in January.
Philadelphia Fed Index rose to -23.2 in March (consensus -13.0) from -24.3 in February.
Import prices fell 0.1% in February following a revised 0.4% decline in January (from -0.2%). Import prices, excluding oil, rose 0.4% following a revised 0.2% increase in January (from 0.3%).
Export prices rose 0.2% in February following a revised 0.5% increase in January (from 0.8%). Export prices, excluding agriculture, rose 0.1% following a revised 0.6% incline in January (from 0.8%).